Military Funeral Honors

Picture of the Day for 7/22/2011. My dad's funeral was lovely. All three of his daughters spoke and I think we each gave unique and touching talks. We also featured music from my dad's grandfather, Frank W. Merrill, who was the assistant Mormon Tabernacle organist at the turn of the last century, a music professor, and a composer. My nieces sang a beautiful song, "Birdie's Lullaby," and I played a piano piece called "Blossom."

As lovely as the service was, my favorite part of the day was the graveside service where my dad, a World War ll veteran, was given military funeral honors. This honor detail from the Navy was waiting at the cemetery when we arrived...

They saluted the casket as the pallbearers carried it from the hearse to the grave site...


One of the gentleman played Taps...


While the other two folded the flag that had been draped over my dad's casket...




At this point, I stopped taking pictures and just took in the experience. The most senior of the gentlemen presented the flag to my oldest sister Paula. He leaned down and looked her intently in the eyes and gave the "On behalf of a grateful nation" speech. I was sitting right next to her so I got the full impact of the speech. It was a very powerful experience.

Afterward, we caught up to the honor detail as they were departing and I showed them a picture of my dad in his Navy uniform. I indicated I wanted them to know who they had been honoring. I let them know my dad had served on Guam and related some of his stories from the war. They said this was the first time a family had taken the time to do this and I could tell they were pleased.